The experience of giving up smoking was described as encompassing 7 major categories

Question What words and concepts are used by people to describe their coping strategies within the first 10 days after giving up smoking?

Design

A taxonomy inductively derived from narrative accounts.

Setting

A large midwestern city in the US.

Participants

36 participants (mean age 41 y, 58% women) who were recruited from smoking cessation programmes. The mean number of attempts
to stop smoking was 4.7. Participants smoked a mean number of 24 cigarettes each day and had begun smoking at a mean age of
17 years.

Methods

Participants were randomly assigned to 5 time blocks of 3 consecutive days within the first 10 days after they had stopped
smoking. Participants recorded thoughts, feelings, and actions for each coping episode as they occurred using a hand held
tape recorder. A coping episode consisted of any thought or behaviour that was used to avoid smoking or to reduce or prevent
the urge to smoke. The …